Lionel Messi ties Klose's World Cup scoring record with unforgettable hat trick for Argentina

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lionel Messi delivered his first World Cup hat trick while matching Miroslav Klose's career tournament scoring record Tuesday night, giving thousands of Argentina fans packed inside of Arrowhead Stadium for a match against Algeria a moment they will never forget.

Messi scored his first goal in the opening minutes off a nifty feed from Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the second early in the second half, and the third moments before subbing out to a standing ovation.

The goals came 20 years to the day that Messi made his World Cup debut for Argentina in a match against Serbia and Montenegro — he scored in that one, too — and made him only the second player to score in five editions of the tournament.

Messi has 16 goals in his six World Cup appearances, and it seems inevitable that Klose's record will fall in the coming weeks. The hat trick was the 61st of his career and his 11th while playing with the national team.

It was the fifth straight World Cup game in which Messi has scored.

The hat trick also upstaged two of soccer's other big stars — Kylian Mbappé of France and Erling Haaland of Norway — who had big games Tuesday. Mbappé scored twice in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal earlier in the day and is tied for fourth on the World Cup scoring list with 14, while Haaland scored twice for Norway in its 4-1 win over Iraq.

Messi, who turns 39 next week, had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup. But the eight-time winner of the Ballon d'Or, which honors global soccer's best player, had no problems in a tuneup last week with Iceland, scoring on a penalty kick while playing 20 minutes.

Messi's appearance against Algeria was the 200th of his international career, which began in 2005 at the age of 18. The only players with more are Portugal's Ronaldo, who will play in his 229th on Wednesday, and Bader al-Mutawa, who played in 202 for Kuwait.

Argentina is among four teams making their base camp in the Kansas City metro, and much as it has the rest of the world, Messi-mania has swept through the area ever since La Albiceleste's arrival about two weeks ago.

On match day, thousands of fans wearing his No. 10 jersey trekked into the home of the NFL’s Chiefs on the outskirts of Kansas City, singing odes to their hero from Rosario. Meanwhile, during a watch party at the downtown Power & Light District, a goat accompanied by former NFL quarterback-turned Fox broadcaster Jameis Winston came on stage wearing an Argentina jersey.

The humorous moment seemed to have foreshadowed a big night for Messi when he scored an hour later, and the argument that he is soccer’s GOAT — the greatest of all time — is becoming no argument at all with every World Cup goal he scores.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup